Edmodo vs. Schoology

There are tons of resources online that allow educators to place materials in one network and connect with other educators. I'm going to discuss two today: Edmodo and Schoology.

Edmodo is an educational website that takes the ideas of social media and transfers them to a classroom-appropriate apparatus. When running a class through Edmodo, the system allows an educator to create and manage classes, offer students merit badges, and connect with other educators. A cool feature titled Edmodo Spotlight allows educators access to all kinds of free resources for any curriculum imaginable.

Schoology is similar to Edmodo in that it is an educational website that serves as a learning management system, allowing educators to manage online classrooms. Schoology allows the same concepts as Edmodo: assignments, grades, and connection through messaging. The layout is similar to Facebook's, so most people will already be familiar with it.

 

After giving both a try, I was more impressed with Schoology. I like the layout more; it seems more organized than Edmodo's. Also, I enjoyed creating a course over the Civil War in Schoology. When one creates a course in Schoology for students to participate in, one has all kinds of add-on options, including discussion questions, tests, quizzes, media albums, and more. Online classes are the education of the future, so it's important for high school students to be exposed to this kind of twenty-first century learning. If an educator is looking for a change of pace and to expose his or her students to the future of education, Schoology (and Edmodo) are great tools to cultivate.

 



 



 

 

 

 



Add Diigo & Twitter to Your PLN

A PLN, or a Personal Learning Network, is made up of who you get ideas from, what you look at, and how you network.

Two fantastic tools to add to your Personal Learning Network are Twitter and Diigo.

Diigo is a tool that allows you to consolidate all of the information you find on websites into one easy-to-use instrument. For example, if I visit the CNN website on a regular basis and like collecting articles, I can add them to my Diigo account by bookmarking the article. Once added to Diigo, I can make notes on the article as I wish. I can also use a highlighting function, which allows you to highlight certain portions of the article using color coordination.

Diigo is a wonderful way to consolidate information. To educate effectively, an educator must always be learning, but our busy schedules demand that we weed out the deadwood. With Diigo, an educator can do just that and narrow information down to the useful and important.

Twitter is another perfect way for educators to add to their Personal Learning Network. While Diigo allows you to consolidate information, Twitter may be more useful for connections. By using Twitter, you can follow other educators, education groups, and other groups that may be of importance to your classroom. Want tips on how to teach multiplication tables effectively? Use Twitter's Education Chats, which allows Twitter users to enter chatrooms and discuss certain topics. Users can connect with other educators all over the nation.

Below, Alec Couros explains how to use Twitter effectively in education.

 



With so much information at an educator's fingertips, there's no reason not to be connected.



Adobe Sparks Feeds(ly) My Need for Blogging

If you don't like varied modes of information coming at you from all directions, you're not too fond of the high-tech, up-to-the-second world we live in.

And I understand. I'm one of those people, in fact. I like my information neatly wrapped in a bow, focused, and singular. I like to focus on one mode of information at a time. Want me to learn about Charles Dickens? Sure! I love Charles Dickens. I'll read A Tale of Two Cities by a fireplace any day of the week. However, while I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities, I don't want to be bombarded with Hard Times or Great Expectations at the same time. I'll relax to Pink Floyd's Have A Cigar because it's one of the greatest songs ever written, but I'm not sure how Have A Cigar would sound with Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Money playing simultaneously in the background. Too much information! I. Don't. Like. It.

However, there is now a way to organize information so that, as I mentioned above, it's wrapped in a neat, blue (or whatever color you prefer) bow. Feedly is an effective way to keep said information concise and organized. Feedly allows users to gather all preferred blogs into one space, saving the time it takes to visit each website separately. I highly suggest Feedly because it's convenient (isn't that what the human race loves the most?)  and accessible. It's the McDonald's of the blog world.

How many of you are creative types? With the written word, I could say I am. With visuals - no way. When it comes to pleasing the eye, I'm as creative as the color (or non-color) black. I absorb it all and reflect nothing back. That's why when I was asked to fool around with Adobe Spark, I was highly concerned. Me? The black non-color of the visual world? Attempt to be creative? I'll try my best. And what I feared would happened, happened - my classmate's posts were all more creative than my own. I'm the kid in the corner drawing stick figures while everyone else creates kaleidoscopic collages. But, hey, I'll continue to practice and get better at it because it could be a great tool to use in the classroom. If you're interested, view the video below for more details:

 

 

Remember when I mentioned Feedly? Feedly is extremely convenient when organizing your favorite blogs. That statement is a segue into my next point - educational blogs. As educators, we always need more ideas, more methods, and more outlooks. Reading educational blogs can give us all of that. Below are links to three educational blogs:

 

Connected Principals

 

Education: NPR

 

Hack Education

 

I'm not a technology guy, but I will sure become one before this class is over! I can't wait to see what's around the bend.